Chia seeds are beneficial and high in fibre, healthy fats, omega-3s and calcium.

Because chia seeds are rich in alpha-lonelic acid and fibre researchers from the University of Litoral in Argentina set out to determine how chia seeds can help prevent metabolic disorders like dyslipidemia (excessive fat in the blood) and insulin resistance, which are two factors int he development of diabetes.

The scientists, who published their findings in the British Journal of Nutrition, conducted two studies at the same time.

The first test evaluated how heathy rats responded to three weeks of a sucrose-rich diet in which chia seeds made up the primary dietary source of fats.

The second test took healthy rats and fed them a sucrose-rich diet for three months so they developed dyslipidemia and insulin resistance.

They then fed the newly diseased rats a sucrose-rich diet and chia seeds for an additional two months.

The research found that during the first examination, eating chia seeds completely prevented the onset of dyslipidemia and insulin resistance.

The blood levels in the rats didn’t change at all despite having 65 per cent of their diets composed of sugar for three weeks.

With the second examination, after the dyslipidemic and diabetic rats were fed chai seeds and a surcrose-richh diet for two months, they completely recovered from their conditions.